The Jashinist and the Yamanaka Family
by Varmint
Summary: Shinobi were great at destroying and taking lives. It was a true testament of skill to be able to bring back life. And not only to bring it back, but to also bring it back stronger and saner than it had been before... Or that one story where Hidan gets redeemed and becomes Ino's big brother. One-Shot!


Quick A/N: Ino's mother doesn't have an official name. So, for the sake of this story, her name is Yasuko.

Please do enjoy~

~..~..~

It wasn't his smartest decision.

But it certainly wasn't his dumbest one either.

 _"_ _Just keep telling yourself that, Yamanaka. You may just start to believe it."_

Inoichi rolled his eyes as Shikaku's voice reverberated around his mind once again.

The man was always so sure of himself- sometimes, Inoichi truly wondered if he ever got tired of being right. But whenever he thought that, he remembered that Shikaku didn't really care if he was right or wrong as long as nothing disturbed his naps. So, if all he truly cared about was sleeping, he most probably didn't care about being right- so he most probably couldn't get tired of being right all the time.

"Where the fuck are you taking me?"

The teenager was foul mouthed. He was crude and extremely violent. His past was filled with death and senseless massacre. But it was also filled with horrifying trauma and little to no chances to learn what was _right_ \- he had never been given the chance to try and be a good person.

"My house. You're my responsibility now."

"Holy fuck, you Konoha retards are dumber than I thought."

Inoichi found himself feigning a smile as he turned to look at the silver haired youth- in reality, he wanted to grimace and scold him for all of the curse words he had spewed out in less than a minute. "I'm giving you a chance at a real life, Hidan. You'd be wise to take advantage of this kindness."

The teen's eyes were an odd color. Caught in between the hues of red and purple, they truly were one of the most unique set of eyes Inoichi had ever come across. And right now they were narrowed and filled with nothing but distrust and contempt.

 _"_ _There's no such thing as kindness. Fuckers talk about it like it's some great thing that can be seen all around the world… Truth is that no one does anything for nothing. Everybody's got a fucking price. The people that talk about doing something for the fuck of it are liars."_

Hidan didn't repeat the harsh beliefs. Instead he remained quiet as he glared at the Yamanaka that had decided to bring him under his wings.

Inoichi wasn't sure if that could be considered as a victory or a complete loss.

When they finally arrived at his home, Inoichi didn't release Hidan from the restraints that had been forced around his wrists and ankles. Even though the Village trusted him with keeping the criminal in check, the Hokage had only allowed him to bring Hidan home under extremely strict conditions: He's to be shackled for the first month, he cannot leave the Yamanaka home without a trusted jounin accompanying him, he is not allowed to use even an _ounce_ of chakra, and so on and so forth. The stipulations were rigid, but Hidan was one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Eventually, if Hidan proved to not be a danger to Konoha along the time he lived with the Yamanaka household, he would be granted liberties. The first ones would be freedom from his shackles and permission to leave the house with chunin or trusted civilian members of the Yamanaka clan.

Yasuko had been busy cooking when Inoichi led the newest inhabitant of his home. And when she saw the man, the woman's blue eyes softened immediately.

Hidan was a sight that begged for compassion. He was no older than nineteen, even though he insisted on being a full grown man. His body was lanky, more bone than muscle, and the clothes he wore were much too big on him. The bandages around his stomach and dark red pants had clearly seen better days, and the black sandal- while unique and rather nice looking- were close to breaking down on him. The only thing that looked well taken care of, although just as old, was the black jacket he wore with the fur trimming around its collar.

"Another stray?"

Inoichi felt himself redden slightly at the question, but merely shook his head. And he had been prepared to answer and explain just who Hidan was… But the younger male beat him to it.

"He's done this before? Fuck, this bastard's a dumbass!"

The smack that came down on his forehead was swift and harsh enough to echo throughout the kitchen.

Inoichi winced- he had been on the receiving end of that wooden spoon before, and it had _never_ been any fun.

"Holy fuck! What the fuck was that for, you crazy-"

Another smack interrupted him and Hidan shut his mouth as he glowered at his usually kind and peaceful wife.

Inoichi truly loved her.

"There is no swearing in this house." Yasuko informed him with a soft smile on her lips, but there was a harshness to her eyes that screamed _'_ _Come on, try it again. I'm itching for violence'_.

Hidan glared at the woman for a good two seconds, remarked, "You fuckers are insane." And smirked even as he was hit once again by his wife.

… Inoichi knew that he believed that masochist actions might help bring him closer to his god… but he seriously had no idea he would receive any kind of pleasure from being hit by a woman with a wooden spoon.

~/~

"I do not need to hear you two fucking! Shut the fuck up!"

Inoichi groaned as he allowed himself to fall back onto the bed, all the while Yasuko jumped out of it, rushed to put on clothes, and raced out of their room.

Two months had passed since he had brought Hidan into his home. And the man had acclimated… Uh… Somewhat well.

He was still crude and valued death over life. But without the constant presence of _danger_ in his life, he had proved to mellow out. Just a little. Not by a lot. He still cursed at whoever dared get near him if they weren't from the Yamanaka Clan. And he had a lot more contempt for the members of Shikaku's Clan than any other group of people. But Inoichi merely attributed that to the fact that it had been a specialized group of Nara to have captured him.

"Hidan! What have I told you about swear words?"

"Holy fuck! Ow!"

Inoichi snickered softly as he heard the male's shouting, rather pleased to hear him distraught. The man needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut. Normally, Inoichi was tolerant of his louder, more explosive, ways. But right now, in the middle of a rather important moment with his wife… Well, he had a bit of a right to be annoyed with the Jashinist.

"Stop it! You crazy-youch! Lord Jashin, how could you ever create a demon this horrible? Stop it! I'm going to cut off your fu-Ah! Okay! I'll stop!"

Inoichi shook his head as he heard one final SMACK echo throughout his house.

Hidan would eventually become used to Konoha. And he'd eventually learn that not everyone was his enemy and there _truly was_ such a thing as kindness in the world.

Tonight would not be the night he learned, this, though.

~/~

"I'm fuc- _really_ bored."

Inoichi quirked an eyebrow at the groan from the younger male.

Hidan had learned his lesson over the bad words with violence and harsh threats. He was currently working on not swearing whenever Yasuko was not around so it was easier for him to not slip up when she _was_. Although it was kind of funny to see him whenever he allowed the beginnings of a swear past his lips, for he adopted this truly terrified look that didn't really lend to his sought for image of 'heartless murderer of thousands'.

"What would you like me to do about that?"

They were at his office at T&I because of two reasons: One, Inoichi had not found anybody to look after Hidan within his home while Yasuko went to visit a bed ridden aunt. And, two, Hidan was due for some mental exams in the following week, so they had just decided to move the date up and get it over with today.

" _Anything_." Hidan was now standing in front of his desk, pushing down the papers Inoichi had been reading to force the blonde to look at him. There was a mischievous glint within his eyes, though, one that spoke of nothing good for whoever it was directed at.

"Like what?"

"Let's go and fight some! I'm itching for violence!"

Inoichi frowned at the excited words, clicked his tongue for a moment, and said, "Must I remind you how the seal on your chakra works? And in how much trouble you would get into if you tried to use your chakra?"

Hidan frowned and crossed his arms over his chest with a huff. "You don't got to. I remember! But I'm seriously bored and I haven't been able to do anything in forever so let's go spar! No chakra, just taijutsu."

Inoichi immediately knew that Hidan was up to something.

But this was the first time the younger man was asking to actually do something with him rather than avoiding him, so it was a pretty big and important step in their relationship. If Inoichi didn't take advantage of this, he may never be able to break through the Jashinist.

"Alright." He sighed, "Let's get going."

"Whoo-hoo!'

Hidan broke through his office's window before Inoichi could even blink.

A couple of seconds after he had done so, Inoichi still remained standing inside of his office, frozen and completely caught off guard.

Had… Had the man…

Hidan had jumped out of his window.

 _Hidan broke through his office's window_.

Hidan, who had _zero access_ to his chakra, had just crashed through his office's window without a single thought.

With a sudden gasp, Inoichi ran over to the shattered glass and glanced outside, only to find Hidan- bloodied and with more than a couple of cuts on his body- waiting on the floor below. A floor that was _at least_ ten stories below his window.

"Let's go, old man!"

Inoichi couldn't help but smile awkwardly… Right… Limited immortality… He'd forgotten about that.

~/~

"Hidan…"

"Hmm?"

Yasuko and him exchanged worried glances as the silver haired man continued to read from his book; his oddly colored eyes hadn't strayed from it yet, and he'd been reading it for _hours_.

"What are you reading?"

"A book on Jashinism." He answered much too mildly to be normal, all the while he passed the page he had finished reading.

Jashinism, Inoichi had learned, was a difficult religion to understand. There were all sorts of divisions within Jashinists themselves over how they should take their god's words. And there were believers- like Hidan- that valued blood and death, while others chose to rejoice in life and love.

After they had tried to take away his religion from him, the Yamanaka's had learned that a Hidan without his religion was a Hidan without a reason to live. In the week he had spent without anything that alluded to his religion, the young man had lost twenty pounds, began to lose his hair, and even stopped talking. So they had allowed the man to have access to his religion, just not any of the sacrifices he had once insisted were necessary to appease his god.

"Are…" Inoichi swallowed, eyes never leaving the man that had been with them for more than a year now, all the while he kept his right hand on the kunai within the pouch attached to his leg. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

That was a book Shikaku had brought Hidan. The Nara had finally decided to grow a heart and extend a sort of olive branch to the Jashinist. And, normally, Inoichi would truly grow happy from his friend's actions.

But this was a book that Shikaku had found within Konoha. And the last time Hidan had read a book on Jashinism that had not been one he himself had brought with him, Inoichi had found himself having to subdue him before he tried to get his hands on the nearest match because Hidan had thought it a good idea to burn the library he'd picked the book up from down to a crisp.

"Not at all." Hidan admitted quietly.

But he _finally_ raised his eyes to look at him and his wife. And he did so with a lack of violent intentions within his eyes, so Inoichi was able to relax marginally.

"But this book poses some pretty interesting questions and facts, so I'm entertained. Everything might be wholly wrong- Lord Jashin is a god of fire and brimstone, not love and repentance- but it's kind of interesting… Besides, that Nara jerk said I couldn't read it in a day."

Inoichi was split between wanting to smack his friend over the head repeatedly with his wife's favorite spoon or hugging him until he couldn't breathe any longer.

Hidan was actually reading something that wasn't about complete violence and wasn't about to try and rampage across the village. Of course, he was only being so calm about the whole thing because Shikaku had used some reverse psychology on him, but… You know what? Forget this. This was a good thing.

With a soft smile, Inoichi nodded and moved his hand away from his leg.

"Alright. We'll leave you to it."

Hidan hummed distractedly, eyes already stationed on the book.

~/~

"Oi! Let go of me! I've done nothing wrong!"

Inoichi was woken up by Hidan's shouting.

"Stop resisting, murderer. We're here to take you in."

In a flash, the Yamanaka Clan Head had run all the way from his room to Hidan's. And when he reached the man's room, it was to find him struggling against three masked ANBU operatives.

Anger surged up within him immediately.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The two men that were struggling to keep control of Hidan's arms froze as soon as they heard his shout. And Hidan looked up at him with _pure fear_ on his face; for once allowing Inoichi to see how truly terrified he was.

"We're here to arrest Hidan of Yugakure." The only female ANBU- one with long purple hair- stepped forward to speak with him. "A tokujo jounin was murdered last night."

That was _not_ enough of an explanation for Inoichi.

He knew that he risked getting into unimaginable trouble for interrupting ANBU operations. Even more so when one took into account that one of his _comrades_ had been murdered. But Inoichi had lived with Hidan for more than a year now and he refused to allow him to be taken in like the criminal he had been in a past life.

"What evidence points to Hidan?" He demanded, and the woman answered without skipping a single beat.

"Deep cuts and heavy lacerations that point to strangulation and a heavy, bladed weapon. Aside from that, there were two symbols that pointed towards Jashinism found within the crime scene."

Inoichi frowned heavily.

Hidan looked at him with wide, tear filled eyes.

"I didn't do anything! I swear! Dude, I'm not lying! I haven't killed _anyone_! I swear! I was here all last night, reading that book Shikaku brought me!"

"And what book was that?"

Inoichi immediately wished Hidan had kept his mouth shut.

Everything was looking rather grim. Just from the symbols left behind at the crime scene, it was safe to say that a Jashinist had committed the murder. But strangulation and copious amount of cuts on the body were both signatures Hidan had been known for when he had still been murdering in his god's name.

Against his wishes, Inoichi pointed the female ANBU towards the Jashinist book Hidan had been reading.

He wasn't able to stop them from taking the Jashinist. Screaming and kicking, Hidan was forced to go with the ANBU.

Yasuko had arrived just as they pulled him through the room's window. She immediately began to ask just what in the world had happened, but Inoichi wasn't sure himself, so he didn't dare even _try_ and answer his wife.

Hidan hadn't said a single bad word. Nowadays, he only swore when he _knew_ he was in trouble so he could try and deflect attention away from whatever it was he'd broken and his butchering of his language.

 _Nothing_ about this was right.

~/~

Inoichi was forced to meet with his Hokage because of his perceived traitorous thoughts.

Minato was more than understanding enough to tell him that, no; he was not going to be arrested for being an accomplice to murder. Nor would he be detained for having put the well being of an outsider over that of a villager. Actually, the blonde man confided in him that this whole murder business had a foul stench to it; it didn't feel quite right.

The Yamanaka knew that if his Hokage had been any other man, he would have been taken like Hidan for his words and actions. Even though he had not flat out stopped the ANBU from taking Hidan, he had stalled them for a while. And that could have been seen as due cause to believe he was in league with the man.

He was grateful for the fact that his Hokage was Minato and not anyone else.

~/~

It had all been a ploy.

The female ANBU had lost her brother to Hidan two years ago and wanted to see him answer for his crimes. She could not stomach the idea that a murderer like him- a man that had kill unscrupulously for years without caring about age or health or social status- was now allowed to _live_ within the protection of a powerful clan like the Yamanaka. And her genin teammates had helped her set up what looked to have been the murder of a shinobi to force the Hokage's hand into action before evidence had been fact checked.

Now all three of them found themselves within prison walls, sentenced to different punishments for having conspired to cause the death of an innocent, having faked the death of a fellow shinobi, having forged documents to expedite the execution of the innocent, and having filed false claims.

Hidan returned to Inoichi's home with a forlorn look within his face that had worried both him and his wife.

But as soon as his eyes had fallen on Yasuko's stomach, the look had been replaced by one of true surprise.

"You knocked her up?"

Inoichi nodded dumbly, unsure of how Hidan would react to his wife's noticeable pregnancy.

He'd been kept locked up for five months. Inoichi had worked those full five months to help free him… But, no matter how innocent he had been and how fabricated the murder had been, Hidan still had his past actions hanging over him like a terrible cloud that would never leave him. No matter how innocent he had been, he had still been treated like a criminal because, in the eyes of the law, he _was_.

"Good." Hidan harrumphed and Inoichi could only blink at him in complete stupefaction. "Now I won't have to hear you two going at it like animals."

The only reason why Yasuko didn't hit him with her wooden spoon for having used such crass words- they were better than his swear words, but Yasuko wanted _zero_ crude and disrespectful themes to be talked in her home- was because she hadn't seen him in a full five months. Even though Inoichi had been allowed to visit the man, she, as a civilian; a pregnant one at that; had not been given such permissions.

The woman moved forward and forced Hidan into a tight hug.

Hidan froze and refused to move at first. But he eventually melted into the embrace and patted Yasuko's back awkwardly.

It was a rather heartwarming sight.

~/~

Inoichi had almost missed his daughter's birth.

If it hadn't been for Hidan storming his way into T&I without a single care about possibly getting in trouble for trespassing on classified property, Inoichi was sure that he would have missed his baby girl's birth.

But because Hidan rushed into the interrogation he had been conducting, grabbed him by the arm without skipping a single beat or waiting for anyone to tell him to get the hell out before they had to restrain him, Inoichi had reached his daughter's birth right on time.

When he was handed the young bundle of beauty that was his little princess, Inoichi couldn't help but smile at Hidan.

"You see that odd looking young man there, Ino?" He asked softly, minutely bouncing his arms as he made sure to keep his child steady and balanced properly. "He's kind of like your big brother. He's kind of weird, though, and doesn't have the best ideas… So I'm going to trust you to keep him in line."

Hidan growled and moodily crossed his arms over his chest at the perceived insult. He even looked away from the Yamanaka family, trying to make sure they all knew how displeased he was with Inoichi's words.

But Inoichi knew how to read body language. And the man kept his front facing them and didn't even move to turn their back to them. Even though he wanted to act as if he had been insulted and wanted nothing to do with him or his family, Inoichi knew that Hidan was more than just a tiny bit interested in his daughter and his family.

He didn't comment on this, though.

He just smiled and allowed Hidan to think that they believed his foul mood.

~/~

The night the Nine Tails attacked, Inoichi was called into battle. He had not wanted to go out of fear of something happening to his family while he was out defending his Village. But it was his duty as a ninja of the Village of the Hidden Leaf to go out and defend the home he had promised he would never fail.

Before he had even thought about the supplies he may have needed to help combat the threat that was the Nine Tails, he found Hidan throwing him a pouch of weapons.

"Don't you fucking dare die."

With that threatening growl, the younger man pushed him in the direction of his entrance.

"I am _not_ going to take responsibility for your women if you allow yourself to die. Because if I do, I'm going to raise Ino to only respect Lord Jashin and dance on the graves of the dead. Have I been understood?"

"Hidan-"

"The troublesome one may not allow it at first, but eventually I'll convert her to Lord Jashin. So if you don't want your wife and daughter dancing on the graves of dead bastards, you _will_ come back."

It was at this point that they reached the front door of the home. Inoichi turned to give Hidan one final look, failing at suppressing the pleased smile that came over his lips.

Hidan glared up at him, though, "You better not die."

"I trust you with them."

"You're a Jashin-damned idiot, but we've all known that for a while."

Inoichi chuckled softly, raised his hand to pat at the male's shoulder, and nodded with complete conviction. "I'll come back. Don't worry about me."

"Tch, I'm not worried about you… I'm worried about winding up stuck with those two harpies because you were retarded enough to die."

There wasn't enough bite in his words to be taken seriously. But Inoichi knew that Hidan was simply voicing out his concern in the only way he knew.

"I'll come back."

"You better."

And then he was gone, feeling much more at ease now than he had within his home a couple of minutes ago.

Maybe something might happen to him. Maybe he would be killed in action protecting his Village. Maybe he would fall tonight and there would be nothing anyone could do to save him.

But his queen and his princess both had a knight looking after them. A knight with less manners than common sense- which he lacked enough of- and a predisposition for getting into trouble, yes; but he was a trustworthy knight even with his shortcomings. And that knight would die before he allowed anything to happen to them. He was now sure of it.

~/~

Ino loved Hidan. She never wanted to go somewhere he would not be. And she refused to allow _anyone_ to point out his odd looks. Even though she still couldn't create an actual word with her mouth, she was more than aware when someone was insulting Hidan. And she would always act out until that person apologized.

Inoichi was proud of his little princess. She was already showing much intelligence before she had even learned how to speak or walk.

Hidan loved Ino too. He just had no idea how to properly express that love, had no idea how to actually be a _normal_ member of society, and didn't know how to express himself if it wasn't with violence or curse words. He tried to never hurt the little girl, though, and that was enough to let Inoichi trust him with her.

The fact that he still wasn't able to use any of his chakra and his favorite weapons were still stored under lock and key added a little bit to that trust. But what they added was extremely small.

"Inoichi, _please_."

"I'm working, Hidan."

"She's trying to _eat my hair_!"

The young babe blubbered as she grabbed at a strand of Hidan's silver locks, all the while Inoichi chuckled softly.

"She's harmless."

"She's pulling! It _hurts_!"

Inoichi merely rolled his eyes at Hidan and waved him off, "Yasuko did warn you about her love for long hair."

He wasn't able to see it, but he knew that Hidan was currently glowering at him. It brought a smile to his face to think that Hidan was so annoyed with Ino that he actually wanted someone to help him, but still allowed her to continue biting at his hair.

Even though he would most probably never admit it out loud, he really did love the young child.

~/~

Ino's first words were not 'Daddy' or 'Momma'. They were 'Hidi' and 'Jashi'.

Inoichi had found it adorable. Yasuko had been torn between worry and true amusement. Shikaku had called it troublesome. Choza had merely asked if it was a good idea to allow Ino to grow up around Hidan's ideals of religion.

Ino's first steps were not to walk towards her father or her mother. Instead, they were to follow after Hidan after he had told her to stay put, he didn't want to be with her.

After those first steps, Hidan would lament ever having allowed her to walk, for he found that there was nowhere he would go within the house that Ino did not follow.

Ino's first gift was shared between the three people she lived with. It was a drawing in crayon of her little family. She had drawn the family house and, in front of it, she had painted her father and her mother. In between them, though, she had painted Hidan and herself. They had all held hands and had large smiles on their faces.

As a title, she had insisted Inoichi write 'My Beautiful Family' because she still was not able to write but refused to leave it without a proper name.

Hidan had growled and tried to insist that he hated the painting because he didn't hold hands and there was nothing beautiful in a world without bloodshed and death.

Inoichi had hung it up on their fridge, though, and was more than happy to boast about it whenever his friends came over to the house.

Even though Hidan insisted on his hate for the drawing, Inoichi had woken up on more than one occasion during the night to go down into the kitchen to get some water, only to find the younger male smiling at the work of art Ino had created.

He never commented on this, though, to make sure that Hidan didn't try something impulsive like tearing it down just to maintain an image no one in the Yamanaka household had ever believed in.

~/~

When Ino turned four years old, Inoichi took in yet another 'stray', as Yasuko had taken to calling the people he decided to help.

Ibiki was a thousand times more dangerous than Hidan had ever been when he first arrived at the Yamanaka household. Fresh from a brand new string of torture and interrogation, the man was more instincts than rational thought. Having him around Ino and Yasuko was dangerous, for he might snap and hurt them. But the true danger was not having him around the females alone; it was having him around Hidan _and_ the females.

Hidan would never admit to it, but he would die before he allowed anything to happen to the two females. They were, in a way, defenseless against a shinobi of Ibiki's caliber. And he'd grown attached to them both because he wasn't the heartless monster he had once tried to be called.

Inoichi sometimes wanted to grab Hidan whenever he allowed Ino to do something to him that he'd never allow anyone else- like braid his hair or force a flower crown onto his head- so he could show him off to Shikaku, Choza, and every single person that had ever told him that housing Hidan would be the worst idea he'd ever had. He had yet to do it, though, because Yasuko insisted that the day he did that would be the day Hidan would actively try and murder him.

Unfortunately for Ibiki, his mind was so fractured and destroyed when he entered the Yamanaka home, that even Inoichi doubted his rehabilitation. He never once thought about giving up, don't get him wrong. He just didn't think that Ibiki would ever be able to go back to being the wonderful and exemplary ninja he had once been.

Ino took to Ibiki in a different manner than she took to Hidan. Probably, it was because Inoichi didn't allow her to be around him without either him or Hidan. Instead of forcing him into playing with her or making him read to her, the young girl would ask him if it was alright if she was around him.

The first time she asked, Ibiki stared at her as if she wasn't real. His eyes glossed over and his mouth hung slightly agape. Ino stared back, looking much more worried than excited- an odd look on the usually confident girl's face. He didn't answer her and Inoichi told Ino that maybe it just wasn't the right time yet to play with Ibiki.

The next few times she asked, Ibiki's eyes lost their focus once again. But he answered her, telling her that that he didn't mind having her around, although it may not be safe for her. Ino huffed at this answer, though, and declared she was strong enough to protect herself and there was nothing anyone could do that would hurt her.

Hidan happened to pass by Ibiki's room one of the times Ino proclaimed this. He rushed in, a frenzied look in his eyes, glanced over the room, noticed Ibiki, and promptly picked Ino up so he could run away with her.

Inoichi scolded the younger male, told him that he was overreacting, and wound up in an argument with him about the safety and health of his only daughter. All throughout their discussion, in the back of his mind, all Inoichi could truly think about was how amusing it was that Hidan _still_ insisted on hating everyone in that house, even though he cared enough about Ino's health to try and bar her from interacting with Ibiki.

It was because of that argument, though, that Inoichi decided to allow Hidan to spend time with him and Ino when they visited Ibiki. Hidan stayed mostly quiet, merely glowered at Ibiki and smiled at Ino whenever her eyes turned on him, but he had not tried anything against the broken man, so Inoichi had not seen how bad it might have been to allow both men in the same room.

Shikaku, when he heard about this practice, smacked him upside the head. _"_ _Hidan is a mentally unstable Jashinist that relishes in violence and death. Morino is recovering from the torture he received at the hands of people with similar values. How in the world could this possibly be a good idea?"_

Once again, Inoichi had wondered if Shikaku ever got tired of being right.

Still, he'd noticed the danger he'd unwittingly put his only child into. So he always made sure to be around whenever Hidan and Ino were in the room, although he wasn't seen.

In retrospect, he should have known by now that Hidan would never do anything that would put Ino in trouble.

Inoichi never saw Hidan ever starting anything with Ibiki whenever Ino was around. So he eventually decided to stop spying on them and allow them to just play together without anyone looking in on them.

In retrospect… Well, no. There was no way he could have ever foreseen Hidan's next actions.

One day, he was forced to return to his house to find some documents Ino had hidden from him because he had not allowed her to go with Hidan to the library. (Which he had been in the right to keep her from; the last time she'd gone there, he'd been called in to stop both Hidan and the girl from trying to burn up the library.)

(The threat of Hidan burning up libraries was so normal in their lives that there were 'Hidan Safeties' put in place in all of the buildings with even a mention of his god's name within their books.)

As he walked past Ibiki's room, making sure that the documents Ino had hidden were the correct ones- unfortunately, they were; they had been painted over with both flowers and Jashinist designs, so Inoichi would have a lot to answer for when he arrived at T&I-, Inoichi heard soft sobbing.

Normally, he would have left Ibiki alone. The man didn't like it when someone walked in on him as he had his nightmares. So, even though it broke his heart, Inoichi would let him cry the nightmares out. After the crying would stop, he'd walk in and give him whatever comfort he could. But he'd never walked in during his sobbing.

He didn't walk away this time, though. He stood there and listened to the saddened crying, his heart tearing at the true pain that could be heard within those sobs.

What he heard amidst the crying, though, certainly surprised him.

"You're fine now, you know. Those bastards are long gone. And if they're not dead, all you've got to do is point me at 'em- those fuckers aren't immortal like me. They're a bunch of degenerate heathens and _nothing_ good will ever happen to 'em… But, you, Ibiki, just got to remember the Yamanaka's and everything they've done and will do for you. Ain't no one going to hurt you while we're with you."

Inoichi's heart swelled with an unbelievable amount of pride. And a stupid smile came onto his face; he was unable to keep his features under control.

Hidan had called himself part of his family… Hidan considered himself to be part of their little family.

Inoichi slunk away as quietly as he could, dead set on not interrupting the beautiful moment between both men.

~/~

Hidan was one of Inoichi's greatest achievements. Ino was his proudest creation. And Ibiki, much like Hidan, become another of his greatest results.

Shinobi were great at destroying and taking lives. It was a true testament of skill to be able to bring back life. And not only to bring it back, but to also bring it back stronger and saner than it had been before.

"You can't catch us, Hidan! You're too slow!"

"How do you move so fast? You're huge!"

Inoichi knew that Yasuko had played a big part in aiding Hidan; he didn't take that away from the woman. So, in reality, Hidan was one of his and his wife's greatest achievements. He was more than aware that if it wasn't for her stern yet comforting hand, Hidan would never have been able to normalize so well. And, of course, if she hadn't played a big part in his rehabilitation, he would most probably still be swearing so much that he would have been able to make even a sailor blush.

Speaking of his wife…

Inoichi leaned his head into his home's doorway, blue eyes seeking the beautiful woman.

They weren't a perfect couple. There was no such thing as a perfect marriage. They would argue over stupid or inconsequential things a lot. But they would disagree on much bigger, more life threatening things, very little. And Inoichi truly believed that their similar views when it came to large matters- like housing two grown, mentally fractured, and extremely dangerous shinobi in their own kind of need- helped in keeping their marriage strong.

Even when his wife continued to nag him about his kunai being left all through the house…

 _'_ _Hm, you win some, you lose some'_ , the man thought with a small smile. ' _I'm always on her case over that horrible recipe she insists on making even though the Akimichi gave her a much better version.'_

Yasuko was currently cooking up that horrendous recipe to be able to celebrate Ibiki's first successful mission after his torture at the hands of the enemy, Ino being accepted into the Academy, _and_ Hidan managing to not want to burn down the Library when he got his hands on a Jashinist related book.

 _Small steps_ , Inoichi reminded himself, _Small steps. Or else he'll drive you up a wall._

From his spot by the door that led into their backyard, Inoichi could see his wife flitting around the kitchen. The smells that filled his nose were ominous and Inoichi knew that he would have to prepare his tongue for the dish he would be served. But his wife looked so happy as she danced around the kitchen that he just didn't have the heart to ask her to cook anything else.

"Aha!"

"Ah! Biki, Hidan got you!"

Inoichi swiveled head to look back at his daughter and her two greatest friends as soon as he heard the shout from the little girl. And it was to find Hidan grabbing onto Ibiki's back with his legs and arms- the young man looked kind of like a child clinging to his mother- while Ino was held away from him by Ibiki's long arms.

"You must complete my mission for me, young one." Inoichi smiled at the serious tone Ibiki had taken on, knowing that he was merely horsing around with the other two. "Do not allow Hidan to capture you. _Run_."

Ino shook her head for she didn't want to leave her Biki behind. But when Ibiki pushed her away and began to 'fight' with Hidan- which mostly consisted of Hidan throwing punches and Ibiki swatting them away-, the blonde began to run.

"No! My target!"

Inoichi smiled as his daughter quickly made her way up the large tree that was the centerpiece of the whole garden, far away from Hidan's seeking hands.

It was always a treat to see these three playing together.

~/~

Ino's first day of school was a rather big milestone in her life. And Hidan refused to not be a part of it. And if Hidan would be going, Ino also wanted Ibiki to tag along.

So the young Yamanaka found herself accompanied by three large men- one a smiling blonde, another a smirking silver haired one, and finally a scarred and frowning one- and her mother. And as soon as the other kids in the Academy had seen her being walked by such a crowd of people, they began to fear her.

Inoichi lamented the fact that Hidan and Ibiki had scared all of the kids that could have been Ino's friends by just _being there_. Because, really, it wasn't as if _he_ had any hand to play in the whole thing. He wasn't a terrifying man. He was a bubbly and happy one that usually helped give children comfort rather than fear.

"And what do you say if any teacher is giving you any trouble?" Hidan asked, knelt in front of the blonde with his hands on her shoulders while he looked deep into her eyes.

The young Yamanaka looked back at him with intensity that Inoichi did not think should have been possible in a girl no older than six. "If you don't stop being annoying, Lord Jashin will dance on the corpse of your dog."

Ibiki grunted as he shoved Hidan away from Ino, only to point a stern finger in her face, "No."

The blonde girl pouted, "But that'll get them off my back! It doesn't mean I'll kill any dog! I love dogs."

"I do too!"

Inoichi smiled fondly as a young Inuzuka- Tsume's kid, he presumed, because he looked like a clone of her- bounded up to them. There was a small toy dog placed precariously on his head, but it was rather adorable.

Ino's blue eyes widened as the boy began to sniff at her and Hidan raised his hand to grab at the young child to stop him from smelling her. But Ibiki slapped Hidan's hand down and sent a glare that read 'Stop before I dismember you'.

"You smell nice." The Inuzuka nodded decisively, only to grab the small toy on his head. "This is Akamaru. I'm Kiba. What's your name?"

Ino's attention was immediately taken by the small toy and she began to coo over it.

Inoichi smiled as the children then began to talk about each other, effectively introducing themselves and creating the beginnings of what could (hopefully) be a good friendship.

As the kids talked, he looked at his wife, only to find an equally pleased smile on her lips.

"She'll be fine."

It was great whenever they agreed.

~/~

Kiba managed to become fast friends with Ino. Inoichi was proud of this.

He loved his daughter. He knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But the fact of the matter was that she had only ever truly interacted with members of her Clan, her parents, Hidan and Ibiki, and Shikaku and Choza's children.

She loved Shikamaru and Chouji both. But she sometimes felt like a third wheel because both children had such different personalities when compared to her own.

Admittedly, he had worried over his daughter being able to make 'normal' friends. It wasn't all that odd for him to worry, though- not when the 'good' friends Ino had played and grown up with until now had been Hidan and Ibiki.

"Run, Kiba! Don't let him catch you!"

Hidan growled dramatically as he took a moment to just roar and act as the monster he was playing in the game of hide and seek. Kiba and Ino both squealed and ran so they could hide from the man, and Inoichi smiled fondly at what he was seeing.

Hidan had grown up a lot ever since he'd first arrived at their home.

He didn't seem different physically. It seems that the immortality he had supposedly been gifted by his god had not yet left him, even though his sacrifices to him were minimal.

Inoichi knew that if one day someone appeared dead with a Jashinist symbol drawn over them, Hidan would be hauled in and treated like the true murderer. Even though he wasn't and he had proved time and time again (to Inoichi and his Clan) how he was a changed man, the Village Elders still despised him. The Hokage still couldn't trust him for his past actions against Yugakure. No matter if he was innocent or not, Hidan would be treated like the killer until the real one appeared.

The threat of Hidan being taken from them was an ever-present one in the back of Inoichi's mind. Just like Hidan had grown attached to him and his family, they had grown to love him as that brother Inoichi had joked about him being when Ino had been born.

Hidan's criminal past was behind him. Almost a whole decade had passed since he had sacrificed his last victim. And he had done so much to change himself and make himself into a better man that Inoichi could just not understand how some people within this Village could still hate him and wish to see him in chains.

He understood Yugakure's wish to see the man terminated. He could understand other Hidden Village's wish for revenge- Hidan had managed to create quite the trail of bodies behind his name before he had been captured by Shikaku and his team and taken in by Inoichi. But he just could not understand Konoha's constant scrutiny of the man. Konoha had not lost a single man to Hidan. Not even the kunoichi that had tried to frame him all those years ago…

Thinking back on that case, Inoichi could not help but shake his head.

The young woman's brother had defected. He had been killed by Konoha's own trackers while he had been on the run. But the death had been attributed to Hidan because the Village had needed a scapegoat.

Now that he thought about it _that_ was a death that would forever be attributed to Hidan. Even though Inoichi and his most loyal friends knew the truth, no one else did. Every single other ninja in the Village truly believed that Hidan had killed one of their own. And they would never be able to forget about that.

A delighted squeal pulled him from his thoughts.

Inoichi found Hidan with his left arm wrapped around Kiba, keeping him from running away. Ino was thrown over his right shoulder, the arm keeping her safely in place so she would not fall. They were all laughing.

Hidan had never been allowed to be a child. His life had been filled with violence and death before he had even known how to speak. Before he had known how to cook, he had known how to kill a man and hand his soul over to his god. Before he had been able to learn how to make friends, he was killing and rejoicing in the senseless murders of heathens.

Inoichi knew that not everyone could be saved. He knew that in his life there was the reality that not everyone could be helped.

Ibiki could have been put down and executed by the Village as soon as he had returned from being tortured. Morino had known so much at that time, even though he had been barely a chunin at that point, that he had been a real threat to the Village's safety. He had been a mere husk of the man he had once been; instincts were his main reactions, thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind out of a need of pure survival.

Torture, Inoichi knew, was a horrible tool that should only be used sparingly. He was the Head of his Division because he was more than aware that, sometimes, pushing was just not the right technique to use. Kindness beat out violence many times. Not many knew this, though. And Ibiki had been the victim of one of the witless idiots that believed that if an interrogator gave enough, their prisoners would eventually break.

Ibiki was too good a soul. He had been dealt horrible cards in his life. He had been captured and tortured on two different occasions.

If it had not been for Inoichi stepping in when he'd been brought back into the Village and taking full responsibility of him and his mental state, there was no doubt in the Yamanaka's mind about what his fate would have been. And whenever he thought about this, his heart twisted and his stomach lurched.

Inoichi was also aware that Hidan could have been one of his greatest mistakes. He knew that he could have been killed by the missing-nin any night after they had taken him in. Just like he knew that Hidan could have been able to turn on his wife or even tried to kill shinobi of the Village. He was immortal, after all. If one wanted to stop him, they would have to outsmart him and capture him like the Nara's had.

He had never doubted Hidan around Ino, though. And for good reason.

Hidan didn't allow people into his heart easily. He distrusted of everyone and their reasons. He had not believed in kindness and truly thought that everyone was as selfish as all the people he had met in his past life.

Ino had taken his heart as soon as she had been born. Inoichi's first and only child had captured the Jashinist's heart as soon as she had looked at him with those wide and trusting eyes. She had cemented her status in his heart when she had reached for him and asked to be carried by the silver haired man.

Before Ino had been born, there was the huge threat that Hidan would eventually turn against those that had helped him.

But now? Now, Inoichi was sure, Hidan would protect them until his immortality ran out. _If_ it ever ran out.

..~..~..

Well? What'd you think? Please review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't!


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